Student Teacher becomes the Real Deal

Student Teacher becomes the Real Deal

Tifannee Vanderhoff, Staff Writer

Mayfield Middle School has a new teacher for the seventh-grade WarriorTeam: Miss Djukic (pronounced joo’-kitch).  She was a student teacher last year for both advanced math with Mrs. Cormiea as well as language arts with Mrs. Hannan.  

She is from North Royalton, Ohio. She graduated from North Royalton High school and then earned a degree in Middle Childhood Education with a concentration in language arts and mathematics from John Carroll University in 2016.  She is certified to teach grades four through nine language arts and math.

When asked why she became a teacher, she said, “I wanted to be a teacher since second grade. My teacher, Mrs. Rush was the nicest lady ever. She was so understanding of every student and I wanted to be (and still want to be) be just like her!”

She became a language arts teacher because she feels she can get truly get to know the kids through reading and writing. “Reading opens up a whole realm of conversations among people,” she said.  “Writing allows the kids to express themselves and share their feelings and ask for advice. While other subjects are great too, language arts is the most helpful and useful to every single person!

As a first-year teacher, she was nervous about the first day of school. “I was so excited and also incredibly nervous. I got up in front of the whole class and almost passed out. I had to be way more scared than any of the students were.” Now, in the fifth week of school she is more comfortable but still has some concerns. “I am nervous about not teaching everything that needs to be taught. I am also nervous about teaching something completely wrong.”

She is looking forward to the year ahead at Mayfield Middle School. She said, “I am looking forward to helping the students find their strengths. As we know, everyone is good at some things and bad at some things. I want to help the students overcome their weaknesses and find where they can succeed.”  

As a middle school student, Miss Djukic said that she was similar to how she is now: “awkward, a little quirky, sometimes kind of obnoxious.”

Some of her interests outside of teaching are biking, dogs, running, playing soccer, and watching basketball.  She added, “I love to consume food and take naps.”